Filing apparatus.



H. M. SGEARGE. FILING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 1908.

Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

3 SHEETSSHBET 1.

INVENTOR. Early M. scearce BY WITNESSES:

is... M. SGEARGE. FILING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 1908.

Patented Apr.20,1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ATTORNEY.

parts.

15- a retail store.

- placed ,in the cabinet for use. the merchant to keep his'dulicateinvoices UNITED STATES gl nnnr oFFroE.

HARRY M. SOEAROE, 0F NOBLES VILLE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE NOBLESVILLESPECIALTY COMPANY, OF NOBLESVILLE, INDIANA, OORPRATION.

FILING arrannrus.

I Application filed March 26, 1908. Serial No. 523,581.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, HARRY M; SCEARCE,

of Noblesville, county of Hamilton, and

encejbeing had tothe accompanying drawings, in which like numerals referto like [.The object-ofthis' invention is to rovide an improved filing.apparatusfsuitab e espeorally forgrocersand otherswho furnish duplicate,invoices witheach sale of goods in While the device her-cin shown anddescribed is a form of myinvention' suitable for grocefs especially'l donot wish to limit it to anyparticiilarclass of filing, as it may be usedinvarious places and by various per-.

sons requiring the peculiar filing for which this is provided.

One feature of the invention consists in.

combining withea suitable cabinet a very compact removable filingdevice, which may be operated within the cabinetduring the day and atthe endof the, business hours the filing device may be readily liftedout of the cabinet and placed in a-safe or vault of the grocer overnight and in the morning re- This enables in a safe place over night witout the necessity of removing the entire cabinet and ap paratus.

Another feature of the invention consists.

in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the parts of the filingdevice which are located in the cabinet. To thatenda series of rigidfiling sheets are pivotally connected at their ends to a shuttle-shapedsupport which ispivotally mounted, so that as'the;

filing sheets. are lifted and turned from a horizontal to a verticalposition for filing invoices, the oscillatory'support-for the filing.

sheets will oscillate or rock .to some extent and accommodate itself tothe changing positions of the filing sheets. This is otpar, ticularvalue when there is a vertically ex tending back support for. the filingsheet? as they are turned into' upward positions, as the oscillatorysupport will always hold Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. April 20, io'oo.

. wardl Qagainst' the back suppolzlrt lalnd raging;-

t e ings eats" there ygravity. Hence, a are held in their two positions,Whether it be the upper or lower osition, by gravity'and lWithoutanypartic ar attention on theipart of they operator." 1

Another feature of the invention consists in the combination ofthedevice and the cabinet, whereby theffiling device may be readilyinserted or removed and be easily operated in the cabinet. To that'end,in

order to reduce or diminish the size of the cabinet, the-filing deviceis mounted upon the spring-supported means or plate, the spring beingadapted to maintain'such means or plate in a horizontal position whenthe cab net i s:o en but when the top of the cabinet is folde down, saidsup orting means or late may be depressed as t e filing device is Forceddownward .by-the top of the cabinet while closing it. Cooperating withthe spring for holding-i the supporting means or plate inpOSiti'on'there is. provided a chain or connection between said supporting means,or plate and the folding top of the cabinet,

whereby-as the foldingtop-is opened up it I will through said connectionlift the sup porting means or plate to a horizontal posi- Y tion andwhen the top is fdlded down, said connection will. ern'nt the filingdevice to move downward y at the same time.

Another feature of the invention consists in the combination of acabinet with ano ening door or-top, a filing device mounted t erein; anda slidable drawer also mounted in saidcabinet and adapted to be lockedin connection with the door or lid whereby one lockwill lock the whole.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing with the cabinetand filing device, a sliding arm-rest to .use while writing "invoices orthe like on the filing sheets and p which, when the device is closed up,bonstiv tutes a. cover :or top or closing partmf the drawer.

The full'nature of this invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

- when the forward part of the top is open but .befo'rethe top isfullyopened for use, showing the arm-rest and drawer closed. Fig. 3 is across section through the apparatus on the line 83 of Fi 1. Fig. 4 is acentral vertical lcngitudina section through the apparatus, showing itin use, with the drawer and arm rest, partially drawn out. Fig. 5 is ahorizontal section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1, parts being broken'away.Fig. 6 is a vertical section through one of the filing sheets andshowing some invoices filed. Fig. 7 is a erspective view of one end ofthe filing s ieet sucpport shown in modified form. Fig. 8 is a s1 eelevation of one of the spring bearings upon which said modified form ismounted, and a vertical section through the plate that supports thefiling device. Fig. 9 is a vertical sectionthrough the device on theline 9-9 of Fig. 4, parts being broken away.

The cabinet 10 constituting a part of the apparatus has a plain bottomand a plain rear end, and a board 11 on the upper side near the rearend, and sides with the rear half of their upper edges horizontal andthe forward half inclined downwardly to the front as shown in Fig. 1.The top or lid consists of two portions, the front portion 12 which atits rear edge "at 13 is hinged to the rear part of the top 14. that atits rear edge at 15 is hinged to the board 11, as appears in Fig. 1. Thefront part 12 of the top has downwardly depending front and side piecesthat fit .down upon the other parts of the cabinet and make the entirecabinet a parallelogram.

In the lower front part of the cabinet a drawer 16 is arrangedslidablyand members 17 of a lock are provided on the front ends of thedrawer-and folding top portion 12 so that when the drawer is pushed inand the top portion folded down the parts ill be locked.

In the forward portion of the cabinet an arm rest or plate 18 isslidably mounted about midway between the top and bottom. It liesimmediately over the drawer. The

cross plate 19 is rigidly secured to the sides some distance forward ofthe hinges 15 and so arranged that when the top of the cabinet iselevated to the open osition, as shown in Fig. 4, the chains 22 wilelevate and hold the plate 20 in a horizontal position, but as the topis folded down, said chains will permit the plate 20 to move downwardly.The chains 22 accomplish the same object as the springs on the springhinges 21 and I deem it preferable to use both but either one willperform the function of elevating the plate 20.

The filing device consists of rigid filing sheets 25, preferably formedof aluminium, which sheets at two corners are pivoted to the oscillatoryor rocking su )port 26 for said sheets. This support is made of twoshuttleshapcd end plates secured together by an intermediate bar orplate 27 extending transversely of the device. The filing sheets havepins 28 extending laterally from each lower or inner end that projectinto the holes 29 in the supports 26, see Figs. 7 and 9. This enablesthe filing sheets to be turned from a substantially horizontal to asubstantially vertical position but in order that they may stand up inthe open position the arrangement is such that they may be turned backwith their upper ends resting against the top portion of the cabinetwhen in its open or vertical position, as shown in Fig. 1. Therefore thesupport for the filing strips is oscillatably mounted in the cabinet ata point forward of the hinged. connection between the folding topportion 1 1 and the top of the cabinet, as seen in Fig. 4. This enablesthe filing sheets to be tipped back into an inclined position so thatthey will be held open by gravity. There are lingers 30 or other filingmeans secured to each side of the filing sheets, as shown in Fig. 6.There may be any number of these fingers or pa )cr catchers secured toeach sheet on both si es and used for diilerent customers. There areseveral invoice sheets 31 shown filed in Figs. 5 and 6.

The filing device may be supported by inwardly extending pins 40 fromcars or plates 41 extending upwardly from the sides of the supportingplate 20, said pins adapted to exten through slots 42 in theshuttle-shaped plates 26, whereby the filing device may be readilyremoved or put in place in the cabinet. The filing devioe is mounted ina cabinet substantially as shown in Fig. 2, the fulcrum points of thefiling sheets being in oval lines extending over and to the front of thefulcrum of the supporting means. As filing sheets are thrown up into theposition shown in Fig. 4 the support 26 will gradually oscillate, thetop end thereof turning toward the rear so that it would be possible toturn all of the filing sheets to their upper positions and if this weredone the forward end of the support 26 would be in almost a horizontalline with the fulcrum thereof and therefore in a position above and tothe rear of the position occupied by it when all of the filing sheetswere turned down to the position shown in Fig. 2.

The modified form of mounting the filing device, shown in the last threefigures, consists in providing upwardly extending cars 50 from the sidesof the supporting late 20 that are made of spring metal and their upofthe support and plates- 26. In other" words, this modified form issubstantially the reverse of the form first described excepting.

that in the modified form the ears 50 are springs.

To reduce the vertical dimensions of the cabinet the filing device ismounted on the downwardly yielding plate 20 and therefore when the topof the cabinet is closed down the ortion 14 thereof engages the rearpart of tie filing device and ushes it and the plate 20 downwardly to te position shown in Fig.- 2 but when the device is taken out and openedup for use the filing device and plate 20 regain their upper positions,as shown in Fig. 4.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A filing apparatus including a cabinet, rigid filing sheets, and asingle support to which said filing sheets are pivoted, said supportbeing mounted in said cabinet so it W1 1 rock and adjust itself as saidfiling sheets 1 are turned.

2. A filing apparatus including a cabinet with an upper part adapted tobeopened, rigid filin which sai filing sheets are' pivoted which supportis removabl mounted in said cabinet, a drawer in the ower part of saidcabinet, and means 'forlocking the folding topand drawer, substantiallyas set forth.

3. Filing apparatus includinga cabinet with a folding top, rigid filingsheets, a support to which said filingsheets are pivoted;

and yielding means Within said cabinet on which said filing sheetsupport is mounted whereby the filing sheets and the su ort tlhereforwill yield when. the topis'fblhed own.

4. A filing apparatus includin a cabinet with a folding top, a yieldinggilate in the rear part'of said cabinet, a

ng device mounted on said plate so that'the same may move downwardlywhen the top is folded down, and a drawer in the lower forward end ofsaid cabinet.

5. A filing apparatus including a cabinet with a folding top, rigidfiling sheets, a spring-elevated plate within said cabinet, and asupport to which-said filing sheets are be lowered. 3

sheets, a support therefor to.

pivoted that is mounted on said springelevated plate, the parts being soarranged that when the top is opened and said plate is elevated thefiling sheet support will project beyond the top .of the cabinet andwhen the top is folded down it will engage the filing sheet support andpress it and said spring-su ported plate downwardly.

6. Ali ng apparatus including a cabinet with afolding top, a filingdevice, means for supporting said filing device and which is hinged atone end within said cabinet, and a connection between said supportingmeans and the folding top arranged so that when the top is opened thefiling device Wlll be elevated and when the topis closed it will 7. Afiling apparatus including rigid filing sheets, a single supporttherefor to which the filing sheets are plvoted, said support beingmounted so it will rock as the sheets are turned from a horizontal to avertical position, and means to the rear of said support against whichthe sheets may rest when thrown to their upper positions.

8; A filingapparatus includin rigid filing sheets, asupport therefortowhich the ends of the filing sheets are pivoted in a curved line,means for fulcruming said sup ort substantially on lines between theend; of said series of pivotal connections, and means for stop ing theupper rearward movementof the s eets as they are turned. upward, wherebysaid support will rock toward said stopping means as the sheets areturned upwarcllv.

9. A filing apparatus including a cabinet with a folding top hinged nearthe rear end so that when folded upwardly it will extend substantiallyvertically, rigid filing sheets, a support .to' which said sheets attheir inner ends are pivoted, and means for fulcruming said supportbetween its front and rear ends ata point" forward of the top whenturned upwardly whereby said top will serve as a. back rest for thesheets when turned upwardly, substantially. as set forth.

In witness whereof, 'I have hereunto afiEiXed my signature in thepresence ofthe witnesses hereinnamed.

HARRY M. SOEARCE. Witnesses:

ANNE E. Samson, CLARA B. ALEXANDER.

